This week's episode of Soapy features hosts Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart interviewing Emmy-winning actor Peter Bergman. Bergman discusses his extensive career, including his 36 years as Jack Abbott on CBS's The Young and the Restless and a decade as Cliff Warner on ABC's All My Children. He shares insights into the "golden days of Soaps" and the unique experience of transitioning between successful shows.
Bergman opens up about the many leading ladies he's been paired with throughout his career. He reminisces about his time on All My Children and his "super couple" pairing with Nina (Taylor Miller), noting it was during the peak popularity of daytime television.
He also talks about the commercial job that enabled him to send his children to college. "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV" was his famous line.
He discusses the initial professional tension and different working styles with Eric Braeden, who plays Victor Newman, but notes they are now great friends and proud of their characters' long-standing rivalry.
Bergman explains his approach to new storylines, his fear of big turns, and particularly highlights a challenging standalone episode where he played a sponsor to Nikki, connecting it to a personal loss due to alcoholism. He humorously describes his method of memorizing lines by recording other characters' dialogues and leaving space for his own, and how the increasing dialogue given to fewer characters makes memorization harder.
He talks about his recent role in Apple TV's Pluribus and the surreal experience of seeing his line "We're sorry we upset you, Carol" on giant billboards. He notes that despite being on the number one daytime show for years, the exposure from Pluribus has been unprecedented, reaching a wider audience than he's ever experienced in daytime.
Watch the episode featuring Bergman below.
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